CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta left the wrong impression on many Americans when discussing marijuana, which is why the media needs to stop saying medical marijuana when they mean cannabidiol or CBD. Marijuana is very different from cannabidiol, the marijuana derivative which Dr. Gupta advocates for treating some types of epilepsy in children.

The marijuana plant has more than 400 compounds, and at least 60 different cannabinoids which bind to receptors in our body. Cannabidiol is one of those 60 cannabinoids. Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC is a different cannabinoid, the main psychoactive component and the one responsible for the “high” of marijuana.

The medical marijuana advocates have intentionally confused the public about medical marijuana research at this time. Cannabidiol has been isolated by a company in Great Britain and is being fast-tracked for approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Parents who have a child with seizures can be part of the trials at this very moment.

When it comes to seizures, it’s the cannabidiol or CBD that helps. However, that’s been bred out of most marijuana, which is why the general public is being duped, and so are many well-meaning people who are turning to “medical” marijuana for help with chronic ailments.

Today’s marijuana is high in THC. Typically, “medical” marijuana is high in THC because it stimulates the appetite of patients who are dying of AIDs or cancer. It is not a cure or medicine, but a management strategy for a condition.

It’s unconscionable that the marijuana industry holds out hope to desperate parents for the sole reason to pave a way for recreational marijuana legalization. In the meantime, they have messed with the plant’s innate balance, to create the higher THC “skunk” cannabis –which is most of the pot smoked today.

Breeding the plant for higher THC, less CBD

During the Woodstock era, the CBD balanced the THC in marijuana, which is why not quite as many people became psychotic from marijuana as they do today. Furthermore, the underground and illegal status prevented people from using as much pot, or as often.

Marijuana plants have undergone a huge genetic modification over the last 20 years to get a higher content of THC, the cannabinoid responsible for brain alteration which produces the high. THC can be as high as 30%, compared to an average around 1-3% in the 1970s. American cannabis plants have been interbred with the plants native to of central Asia, where it is believed that the high THC content protected the plants from the sun. The potent substance used by producers comes from inside the flower of this plant, rather than from the leaves. The growers have been able to modify production so that only the flowering, female cannabis plants grow. By genetically altering this plant these underground chemists are now poisoning young brains.

THC interacts with the same systems as anandamide, an endogenous (natural occurring) neurotransmitter. It binds to the same cannabinoid receptor that binds to anandamide, a joy enhancing neurotransmitter. Repeated use of cannabis hijacks the role of anandamide when THC repeatedly replaces the brain’s own natural neurotransmitter. THC doesn’t resemble anandamide at all, and its chemical structure is totally different. That difference is one reason why its effect may be so damaging to young brains. It is also a reason why heavy cannabis users who quit experience depression and anxiety and severe psychological withdrawal symptoms.

CBD is thought to moderate some of the adverse psychological effects of cannabis. Another way of putting it is that the CBD is the plants own anti-psychotic property to balance out the THC.
According to literature, CBD can convert to THC, so pharmacists must find a way to keep it stable.* The two agents that can convert CBD to THC are heat, which is why smoking is a problem, and acid. Exposing CBD to stomach acid could be a problem, so a nasal spray is probably the best choice. It is best to use pharmacy-grade CBD
to guarantee quality and purity.

Some parents have said it’s necessary to include THC to get additional help for seizure medication. Why risk getting any THC into a child’s developing brain? At this time, CBD is not known to have any negative psychiatric impact.

So please let’s take the discussion of cannabidiol out of the marijuana realm!!!! Although Dr. Gupta explained the difference between CBD and THC, it is not the message that came through the social media and in the press.

*This is not a scholarly publication, but we do consult experts in pharmacology and ask them to verify information. Some the sources for our information which you can study further are: Roger Adams, Hans Wolff, C.K. Cain and J.H. Clark, Structure of Cannabidiol. V. Position of the Alicyclic Double Bonds (Contribution from Noyes Chemical Laboratory, University of Illinois), Mikes and Waser: Marihuana Components: Effects of Smoking , Forensic Toxicol (2007) 25:16-21 and Kazuhito Watanabe et al: Conversion of cannabidiol to tetrahydrocannabinol and related cannabinoids in artificial gastric juice, and the their pharmacological effects. For more information, please consult GW Pharmaceuticals or Dr. Orrin Devinsky of New York University Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center.

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22 thoughts on “Cannabidiol or CBD is not Same as Medical Marijuana”

How about you worry about your children & I’ll worry about mine? Continue to support the literal drugging of boys & girls. You think adderal doesn’t affect their growing brains? I don’t think you have any right to tell people what they can/ can’t ingest. Just go home, already. The FDA is bad enough. Keep your dinosaur opinions to yourself. You’re clearly NOT a neurologist, a psychologist, or an expert in any sort of medical profession.

We are largely against pharma drugs, especially on children, except for the most serious of conditions. Lots of people are against “medical” marijuana and against pharma drugs at the same time. We have written about our opposition to ADHD drugs. It turns out that those who support ADHD drugging or giving children meds for bipolar disorder would be just as angry at us as you apparently are. We’ve written on the subject. You could have searched the website to see what we say about pharma drugs and Adderall: http://www.poppot.org/2015/08/17/us-created-drug-problem-by-overdoing-add-drugs/

There is no way that growers have learned to guarantee consistency as of now. A plant with 400 different compounds (more than 60 of the cannabinoids) assures that some compounds work against the properties of other compounds. For this reason, only isolated components of the plant could possibly be “medicinal.”

Okay, let me put it this way: My wife has stage IV, metastatic breast cancer. Six years ago, it moved to the bones of her chest, hips leg and back. Clearly at the end stage of life, she was fortunate enough to be accepted to a phase 1 clinical trial with a new drug. Within a few months, she showed a 30% response to the treatment! After six months, CT scans revealed that the disease had stopped growing altogether. The problem was that the treatment caused her to experience constant nausea which turned into chemotherapy induced anorexia. I had to watch helplessly as she would force down the treatment pills. She tried every anti-emetic drug that was made available to her and after losing thirty-two pounds, we were told that she was going to be removed from the trial if she lost any more weight. Out of desperation, she tried cannabis. Within minutes she was eating the largest meal I had seen her eat in a year! Using small doses of high THC cannabis, she was able to regain the weight she had lost and stayed in the trail until the drug was approved five years later. Now, you tell me; is that medicine, or not???

Although THC is not the compound that helps those with epilepsy, it IS the compound that has the potential to help millions of people with Alzheimer’s, anxiety disorders, arthritis, the side effects of cancer treatments (nausea and vomiting), fibromyalgia, glaucoma, sleep disorders, migraine, multiple sclerosis, neuropathy and post traumatic stress disorder…

We repeat that THC hijacks the role of anandamide in the brain. Although THC binds to same receptor as anandamide, it is totally different. For this reason, marijuana messes with the brain. It is unconscionable that anyone would promote products that would so wholeheartedly interfere with a person’s ability to mentally function.

My dad had stage IV Brest cancer. During chemotherapy he began to lose significant a mounts of weight. His doctorc gave him pills apon pills and nothing worked. We live in Mi where medical marihuana is legal. So after all theses pills His doctor prescribed his medical card. (P.S. My dad was totally against marihuana) after he stared using for 2 weeks you could see he had a lot more energy than usual and he was actually eating and this is because of the 500mg of thc he was orally taking.

So it was your father who had “brest” cancer, not “breast” cancer and not your mother.

If you have read our blog, we criticize medical marijuana for not being set up in a way that protects children from using it. We don’t criticize
individuals with cancer or who are making end of life decisions.